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Blossom 18 Petal 3
September 2014
September
Newsletter
Since the last
issue...
After returning to the States
from Pujyashri Mathioli
Saraswathys (Sri Ammas)
vilakku puja in Ottawa June 1st,
Aiya crossed the border again for
functions in Toronto. Sri Amma
was also present at the Ganga
puja in Toronto June 7th and the
Satyanarayana puja June 8th.
Aiya stayed in Toronto to
perform a wedding June 10th.
A week later, he flew to Texas
to perform a prana pratishta
(installing life) ceremony for a
temple there, and was in Texas
from June 17th to the 27th.
Past Events
For the last few years, Devis coming of age has
been celebrated in grand fashion with a Chandi homam,
followed by abhishekam with kush grass, and several
palaharam offerings to the temples Vishnu Durga after
she is adorned with a pavadai, and elaborate jewels. This
year proved even more exhilarating, as the festival fell on
registration day of the annual Vibhuti Saivaite Immersion
camp.
Excited children filed into the temple for this
years camp. Even though the camp was shortened to just
three days this year, it proved to be just as fun-filled, and
jam-packed with activities for the children. The main
focus for this year was the second annual chariot festival,
completely planned and executed by the camp counselors. On the third day of camp, the children all gathered
around a chariot, chanting Arohara!, and successfully
pulled the chariot around the temples perimeter.
Gurupoornima, July 11
Varalakshmi Vratham, Aug. 8
This year, devotees took
advantage of the beautiful sun, and
organized the annual Gurupoornima
festival outdoors. A festive mandapam was built and decorated for
Aiya and Amma next to the outside
Bhairava. Everyone gathered around,
chanting along with the puja, and
offering their prayers. Following the
puja, the temple children capped off
the blessed evening with a variety of
musical performances.
One of the most auspicious days to
worship Goddess Lakshmi falls in the Tamil
month of Aadi. Every year, volunteers adorn
a lamp with a sari, jewels, and flowers, dressing the lamp as they would a murthi. Dozens
of sumangalis surrounded the lamp, offering
shodasa upachara to their own lamps and
silver Lakshmi faces. Each participant received
a sacred Varalakshmi thread to tie around her
wrist as well.
Aiya and Amma pay obeisance to their gurus upon their arrival
Ganapathis birthday began with
tarpanam, abhishekam, and kalasa puja.
Devotees lined up next to the homa kunda
to offer a handful of the 1000 modakams, as
the Vancha Kalpa Maha Ganapathi mantra
was chanted.
Once the morning festivities came to
an end, the Utsava Ganapathi murthi was
ornately dressed and lovingly surrounded
by flower garlands. The evening procession
around the temple was filled with united
cries of Ganapathi Bappa Moriya!, as
devotees carrying Ganapathi thoroughly
enjoyed themselves, dancing and singing
His praises.
Sri Amma
(Pujyashri Mathioli
Saraswathy) makes a
sole offering into the
fire of the VanchaKalpa Ganapathi
homam.
The first
morning saw a
grand VanchaKalpa Ganapathi
homam, with
1008 modakams
going into the
fire. Everyone
was invited to
put the modakams in with their
own hands.
Ganapathi wore his fanciest duds on Chaturthi, as he received an elaborate puja throughout the day
Sri Amma leads the way in her modern vahanam as Ganapathis chariot follows.
Upcoming Events
Event
Date/time
Location
Sharada Navarathri
Sept. 24 - Oct. 2
Vijayadasami
Oct. 3
Kedara-Gowri vratham
Oct. 3 - Oct. 23
Skanda Shashti
Oct. 24 - Oct. 28
In Three Months
Devi willing, the next issue of the Sri Chakra will
be up on the temples website at the beginning of
December 2014.
This magazine cannot keep publishing without
contributions! Articles, poems, stories and photos about
any spiritual topic are welcomed.
The next deadline for article submission is November
10, 2014. Please e-mail us with your contributions or
feedback about this issue at sri_chakra_mag@srividya.
org or talk to Kamya or Abhi at the temple.
Sri Gurubhyo Namaha!
Alankara 2014
The Sri Rajarajeswari Peetam ~ 6980 East River Road ~ Rush, NY 14543 ~ Phone: (585) 533 - 1970
Ekambareshwara
part 1
by Michael Steinberg
Q & Aiya
We all love hanging out with Aiya, drinking tea, and sometimes getting
some guidance on how to travel down our own paths to the Devi. Here, he
addresses questions he picked out of a hat during a workshop in Scarborough,
Ontario.
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The Valaikaapu
by Kamya Ramaswamy
For those of us who are unfamiliar with
this traditional South Indian event, first a brief
definitionthe valaikaapu is the ceremony held
for a mother-to-be around her 7th month of pregnancy. During this celebration, mothers, married
women, and young ladies come up to the motherto-be who is seated in a chair, rub chandanam/
manjal (sandalwood paste or turmeric) on her
arms and face, and put bangles on her wrists.
Valail is the Tamil word for bangles,
hence the term valaikaapu. Sri Lankan, Telugu,
Malayali and Kannada families also hold this
event for their pregnant daughters and daughtersin-law, although the specifics may vary from region to region. One thing that is consistent is that
a valaikaapu is only performed before the birth
of a womans first child, because it is intended to
mark the beginning of a new generation within the
family.
A valaikaapu differs from another pregnancy milestone called the seemantham, which
is more structured and formal. Here, a priest
typically performs a brief puja for the motherto-be, during which Vedas and other shastras are
chanted, often including a homam. Many families
do bothfirst the valaikaapu, which is the social
event, then the seemantham a few hours later,
which is the religious event.
I learned most of this very recently while
delving into research on what a valaikaapu was
and why we perform it for pregnant women.
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Meditative Experience
in Navavarana Puja part 2
by Smt. Geeta and Sri Ramesh Kutticad (Yogamba sahita Atmaanandanaatha)
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parnandasandhna sindau
nimagnh punar garbharandhram
na pascyanti dhrh (2)
Mahmantra rjnta bjam
parkhyam: The seed letter which
is in the end of the Mahamantara
raja called para. The Mahmantra
rja is Pachadai mahmantra. The
third kuta is sa ka la hrM, end
letter is hrm, and seed letter at the
end is m. This is called para
The highest consciousness.
svato nyasta bindum
svayam nyasta hrdham: Place a
circle (bindu) and two more circles
(hardham is half of ha, which will
sound like h, is visarga written
as two circlesone above and one
below) on your body. The above
seed letter has to be meditated in
the form of a bindu and triangle and
placed in (our) body.
Bhavat vaktra vakoja
guhybhidhnam: (Let the above
be meditated as) your (Devi Lalit
Mahtripurasundaris) face, breast
and genital. Since there are three
parts in the body to be mediated,
we can meditate face as a bindu, the
two bindus as breasts and a triangle
said above as the genital organs.
svarpam saktbhvayet:
(Devi Lalit Mahtripurasundaris)
real form, mediated and thus conceived at least once. In the previous
part abidhnam means so called.
So there is a real meaning behind
these body parts.
The face: This represents
the individual since the face is the
main source of individual identity.
The breasts: This represents this universe. We can see the
breasts of women, but not fully, they
are ever present but not seen by an
individual to the full extent. The
visible universe is also like that, we
can see it but not fully, it disappears while we close our eyes and
re-appears when we open the eyes.
We cant even see beyond room, so
what to say of countries?
The genitals: This represents the Supreme Lord svara. This
part of the body is totally covered
and cannot even be visualized from
outside; such is the nature of svara,
for he is hidden from the common
plain sight.
tathnye vikalpeshu
nirvia citth: The sdhaka free
from thought constructions of the
bodily parts of the devi mediated
above.
tatekm samdya bindu
trayam te: Identifying these three
bindus said above as one. The verse
now directs us to see the connection that these are parts of a body.
Likewise, the unity of these three
separate ideas of individual, universe and Creator is to be recognized with practical knowledge.
parnandasandhna sindau
nimagnh: Fully realizing this
identity in totality, the sdhaka is
wholly immersed in the sea of bliss.
punar garbharandhram na pascyanti dhrh: (He) shall never see the birth channel again. Thus he is
free and liberated while living. The removal of dual notion is wholly emphasized and has to be experienced in
this level of pj. Hence the removal of Krmika mala is seen here.
Practical Guide for the above meditation:
After chanting the above verse we can do kmakal nysa with dhyna here in our daily routine (nitya pj). This includes the repeating of Pachadai mahmantra with each syllable being merged in the final
kmakal akhara. Initially place the seers as below on your crown (head):
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5
1 7
3
2
4
1. 4- suprabodhaikantha r pdukm pjaymi namah
2. 4- raktmb pda r pdukm pjaymi namah
3. 4- uklmb pda r pdukm pjaymi namah
4. 4- nikalnandantha r pdukm pjaymi namah
5. 4- sakalnandantha r pdukm pjaymi namah
6. 4- navtmnandantha r pdukm pjaymi namah
7. 4- akrrnandantha r pdukm pjaymi namah
In the navel:
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1 2
1. 4- sadnanda paramasamivide namah
2. 4- cidnanda paramasamivide namah
3. 4- nandnanda paramasamivide namah
gain in the navel - 4- m namah
Heart -
4- m namah
Mid eyebrow -
4- m namah
Mouth -
4- m sakalasacchidnandantha r pdukm pjaymi namah
Heart -
4- m niakalnandantha r pdukm pjaymi namah
Genitals 4- m sarvnandantha r pdukm pjaymi namah
The Kmakal nys:
Do pranayama with the mantra 36 times.
Then do ydi nysa as follows:
asya r kmakaly: Paramnandabhairava i amta virT gyatr chanda; akti bhairavi Mahtripurasundar
devata. Do kara adaga nys with long vowels: m, m, m, aim, aum, ah
dhyna: praksa Madhya sthita citsvarpm varbhaye sandadhatm trinetrm
sindravarm ati komalgm mymaym tattvamayM nammi
praksa Madhya sthita chitsvarpmDevi is meditated as in the form chit hakti in the middle of great
effulgence. She is the experience in the midst of intellect.
varbhaye sandadhatm trinetrmShowing gestures of dispelling fear and granting boons and having
three eyes. The greatest boon is the experience of universal identity. Removal of duality is the dispelling of fear
and three eyes signify knowledge of past, present and future.
sindravarm ati komalgmOf Red hue with beautiful features. Red hue represents love, which
breaks all barriers and unifies the whole universe and that is the beautiful body of Devi.
mymaym tattvamayM nammiOf the form of Mya and the tattvas, I salute her. Mya is the cause of
experience and tattvas are the created universe. The experienced salutation denotes removal in the sense of duality.
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